From The Slow Death—and Occasional Resurrection—of Original Reporting:
How We Fix It (a non-complete list)
- Fund the digging. Subscriptions aren’t charity; they’re R&D for democracy.
- Celebrate articles that wreck your priors. Surprise is the price of learning.
- Demand receipts. If a story leans entirely on “sources familiar”, ask for the paper trail, The Verge does this well.
- Back legal defence funds. Lawsuits stop more stories than lack of curiosity.
- Publish your changelog. Post the list: people spoken to, documents read, and known unknowns.
Excellent post.